Lone Star Governance Survey Key Findings

1 Introduction

This document lays out some key findings from a survey that was distributed to Texas school districts School Board Members and Superintendents that particpated in the Lone Star Governance (LSG) 2-day workshop training. The first response was record on 06/03/2019, and the most recent response was recorded on 06/24/2019.

2 Key findings

• Survey Responses*
  • Final N = 129 responses
  • 105 School Board Member responses
  • 24 Superintendent responses
    
    
• School Board Member (SBM) results (N = 105)
  • Most SBMs have 3-9 years of experience in that role*
  • SBMs agree that School admins & LEA admins provide the most input to the school regarding the development of goals or vision, Community members and students provide the least*
  • Districts seem to agree that the board provides honest and respectful discussion
  • Most districts are monitoring student outcomes on a quarterly - monthly basis
  • Most respondents agree that the relationship between the Board and superintendent is collaborative to accomplish student outcome goals, but do not feel it is appropriate to Board members to give instruction to staff members
  • Opinions of the LSG workshop were great! most resondents seem to think that the LSG workshop really helped and was engaging!
    
    
• Superintendent results (N = 24)
  • Most Superintendents have 3-9 years of experience in that role*
  • Superintendents agree that school admins & LEA admins provide the most input to the school regarding the development of goals or vision, Community members and students provide the least*
  • Superintendents have lower agreeance of the respectfulness and honesty in Board meetings
  • Superintendent responses indicate that they are monitoring student outcomes on a quarterly - monthly basis
  • Most respondents agree that the relationship between the Board and superintendent is collaborative to accomplish student outcome goals, but do not feel it is appropriate to Board members to give instruction to staff members
  • Superintendent opinions of the LSG workshop were great!
    
    
• Comparison results: School board members vs. Superintendents*
  • Superintendents perceive students have more than their SBM counterpart
  • Superintendents perceive school school board discussions to be slightly less honest and respectful than SBM
  • Both parties agree that the school board are monitoring student outcomes on a quarterly - monthly basis
  • Superintendents slightly disagree that they are given the authority to accomplish student visions and goals
  • Both role types had great opinions of the LSG workshop!
    
    
• Goal & Vision development results (Superintendents & SBMs)*
  • 94% of respondents indicate their school board has a vision for LEA
  • 97% of respondents indicate their school board has goals related to student outcomes
  • Click here to see some of the goals that have been developed

* = To be discussed in meeting.

3 Survey Response descriptives

3.1 Applicable responses

129 applicable responses to the LSG survey

There are 143 survey respondent(s) in the dataset. 6 respondent(s) consented, but did not fill out the survey. 7 respondent(s) did not consent to the survey. 1 respondent(s) opened the survey, but did not fill out any portion. Therefore, there were a total of 129 applicable responses to the LSG survey.

Please note that, of these 129 respondents, 24% of respondents completed less than half of the survey

3.1.1 Districts without survey responses

The following districts did not provide any responses to the survey:

3.2 Respondents by Role Type

4 School Board member results

4.1 Descriptives

4.1.1 Experience in role

In total, how many years have you served in this role for this LEA?

4.1.2 School board meetings attended

How many school board meetings have you attended during the 2018-19 school year (including only full school board meetings that are open to the public)?

4.2 Extent to which stakeholders provide input

In 2018-19, to what extent have the following groups of stakeholders provided input to the school board regarding development of goals or vision?

4.2.1 Other response answers

4.3 Opinions of school board meetings

To what extent do you agree with or disagree with the following statements regarding school board discussions?

Note: Gray cells represent lower agreeance with the items (columns). The responses are separated by district (rows)

4.4 Engagement in activities

How often does your school board engage in the following monitoring activities?

4.5 Opinions of LSG workshop effectiveness

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about operating procedures of the school board and superintendent

4.6 Opinion of LSG workshop

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding LSG

5 Superintendent results

5.1 Descriptives

5.1.1 Experience in role

In total, how many years have you served in this role for this LEA?

5.1.2 School board meetings attended

How many school board meetings have you attended during the 2018-19 school year (including only full school board meetings that are open to the public)?

5.2 Extent to which stakeholders provide input

In 2018-19, to what extent have the following groups of stakeholders provided input to the school board regarding development of goals or vision?

5.2.1 Other response answers

5.3 Opinions of school board meetings

To what extent do you agree with or disagree with the following statements regarding school board discussions?

5.4 Engagement in activities

How often does your school board engage in the following monitoring activities?

Note: Gray cells represent lower agreeance with the items (columns). The responses are separated by district (rows)

5.5 Opinions of LSG workshop effectiveness

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about operating procedures of the school board and superintendent

5.6 Opinion of LSG workshop

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding LSG

6 Comparisons by Roles

6.1 Extent to which stakeholders provide input

In 2018-19, to what extent have the following groups of stakeholders provided input to the school board regarding development of goals or vision?

6.2 Opinions of school board meetings

To what extent do you agree with or disagree with the following statements regarding school board discussions?

##Engagement in activities {#secnew.4}

How often does your school board engage in the following monitoring activities?

6.3 Opinions of LSG workshop effectiveness

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about operating procedures of the school board and superintendent

6.4 Opinion of LSG workshop

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding LSG

7 Goal Development

7.1 School board has a Vision developed

Has your school board developed and adopted a vision for the LEA?

7.2 School board has goals

Has your school board adopted goals related to student outcomes that are currently being used?

7.2.1 Examples of goals

Are these Goals S.M.A.R.T.?

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-based

In the text boxes below, please provide examples of two of the goals related to student outcomes that the school board has in place for the 2018-19 school year.

Strong S.M.A.R.T. Goals

1. “The percentage of kindergarten-grade2 students reading on or above grade level will increase from 64% to 90% by year 2023”
2. “Percentage of students reading on or above grade level will increase from 43% to 70% by August 31, 2021.”
3. “By school year 2020-2021 85% of all 2nd grade students will be reading on grade level”

Weak S.M.A.R.T. Goals

1. “increase reading mastery”
2. “Higher graduation rate”
3. “To see improvement In reading”

8 Questions?

Please send any questions to Neil Yetz, MPH at nyetz@air.org